secretary panetta stressed that the u.s. enduring presence in afghanistan would be based on the missions that u.s. forces would be carrying out, nations like counterterrorism, advising and assisting the afghan forces, and providing those forces important enabling capabilities. general, would like to hear from you this morning about the pace of the drawdown of u.s. forces on the current 68,000 troop level, to the level of our enduring presence after 2014. you expect the drawdown to occur at a steady pace as the president has said. or do you anticipate the pace of the drawdown remaining at 68,000 through next year's fighting season, and then dropping rapidly sometime thereafter? finally, the united states and afghanistan have begun negotiations on a status of forces agreement, or sofa, as required by the bilateral enduring strategic partnership agreement that president obama and karzai signed in may. the sofa will provide the necessary protections for u.s. troops deployed to afghanistan after 2014. and we'll be interested in y